Distroscale

Lawyer Ivan Bernardo, who represents Callaway and five other members of his team under investigation, argued in an emergency injunction hearing Monday that Kirker should halt Gibson’s investigation.

Bernardo sought an order from Kirker that would have delayed Gibson looking into the financing of Callaway’s bid for the UCP leadership.

He argued his clients had a reasonable apprehension of bias by Gibson, based on his investigation to date.

“We’re not asking for this investigation to be shut down,” Bernardo told Kirker. “We’re asking for it to be paused until the court can answer some important questions.”

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Kirker ruled Wednesday that the investigation should continue.

“The commissioner faces statutorily mandated time limits to complete his investigation. Granting an interlocutory injunction risks those time limits running out before the issues in dispute are finally resolved,” Kirker said.

“Even if there were evidence of irreparable harm to the applicants, it would be, in my view, outweighed by the interests of the public in having investigation of the complaint involving the applicants completed.”

Bernardo said questions of whether the investigation breaches his clients’ Charter rights — such as the right to take part in the electoral process and whether they are being compelled to give self-incriminating evidence — need to be determined.

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Bernardo filed an application late Friday seeking a hearing before Kirker to get an injunction to stop the investigation from proceeding until those issues can be resolved.

One of the constitutional questions he wants resolved is whether interviews the commissioner wants to conduct with his clients constitute a “proceeding” under Section 13 of the Charter.

That section of the Constitution protects individuals from having self-incriminating evidence in one proceeding used in another, other than a prosecution for perjury or giving contradictory testimony.

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Bernardo also wants a determination whether sections of the Election Finances and Contributions Disclosures Act and the Election Act “are inconsistent with the Charter and therefore of no force and effect.”

There is also an issue as to whether the applicants’ right to due process under the Charter and the Alberta Bill of Rights have been breached.

Bernardo told Kirker those questions will have to be resolved down the road.

“Those are issues for another day,” he said in seeking an order that the commissioner’s investigation be halted until those questions are answered.

Commissioner lawyer Corinne Petersen argued that pausing the investigation while those questions are litigated would cause an unnecessary delay.

“It’s going to take a lot of time and there’s going to be appeals,” Petersen said.

She said an injunction wasn’t justified, considering what little harm would be done if the investigation continued.

“These are penalties for irregular contributions,” she said of the potential fines which could be levied if breaches are found.